Mistakes Shouldn't Be Made Twice
by marycasa13
Summary: House gets a patient that suffers from extreme leg pain, and because of another doctor's carelessness, the patient is diagnosed with a blood clot too late. Late enough to cause muscle death. My, my, doesn't this sound familiar..... rated T for safety
1. Chapter 1

1

Mistakes Shouldn't Be Made Twice

"House, we have a case. " said Chase, walking into the conference room. House made a motion with his hand and Chase tossed him the file. He read through it once before acknowledging his team.

" 15 year old girl, Kayla Morrisett, comes into the clinic complaining of a mild fever, headaches, and pain in her leg. The doctor in the clinic was most concerned about the leg pain, which the patient described as sharp and sudden, so he sent her up to orthopedics to run some tests and check for any minor breaks. There were no broken bones, and no infections." House finished, and looked back toward his team. The board now read:

Fever

Headaches

Leg pain - Why?

"Since the other symptoms are minor and possibly irrelevant, lets focus on the leg pain. Foreman, any ideas?"

"It could be just muscle strain." Pointed out Foreman, giving the more obvious answer. House shook his head. " If it was an injury that could be healed with just plain rest the pain would've lessened within the two days she's been here. It's says here it's gotten worse. Plus, if it was just muscle strain or another minor injury the other doctors would have figured it out and we wouldn't have gotten this case." House paced in front of the white board while he talked. " I assume," He continued, "that the angio was clean, otherwise -

" They haven't done an angio." Interrupted Cameron, glancing at her file. House continued, ignoring her, " I'll page Wilson so we can rule out cancer..." He froze, realizing what Cameron said for the first time. He whipped around to look at her. "They didn't do an angio? Why not!" He demanded. "She's been here for two days, and they haven't done an angio?"

" They probably didn't think of it because of her age...it wouldn't be normal for someone that -

House cut her off, "Since when are the cases we get normal? Get me an angiogram stat!" Chase and Cameron ran off to obey their boss's orders, but Foreman hung back, realizing what his boss was suggesting. " You don't think she has a blood clot in her leg like you did do you?"

"I think," Said House grimly, "That if I'm right, and this girl does have a blood clot, she might already be well into the beginning stages of muscle death." His eyes softened at his next statement, "And _nobody_ should have to live through that kind of pain." As he walked towards his office he turned around and said, "'Cause let me tell you, it's NOT pleasant." Nope, he thought to himself, not pleasant at all.


	2. Chapter 2

1 Mistakes Shouldn't Be Made Twice

Chapter 2

" Yeah." Stated House knowingly, looking at the angio on the wall in front of him, " this kids got a blood clot in her left leg, lower thigh. It looks like it's been there for a while too." He turned around to address Chase, "She still have a fever?"

"Yes"

"That's not a good sign, it generally means the dying muscle is sending poisons throughout the body. " House sighed.

"Someone should go talk to her, tell her all the possible options. I could - House interrupted Cameron with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll do it." His team looked at him in shock.

"Yeah I know!" He said sarcastically, " Doctor House seeing a patient ? It just cannot be!" He finished in a high pitched tone. Rubbing nervously at the back of his neck he sighed. " Look, all jokes aside...I'm only going to say this once, this case hits very close to home for me, and I might even pay special attention to this kid. Don't get on my case about my _feelings_," He shot a pointed glance at Cameron, who scoffed and rolled her eyes, " and I'll refrain from bashing you in the head with my cane. Soooo...any questions?" He didn't wait for an answer and headed towards Wilson's office. He'd talk to Kayla and her parents later. Right now he was in desperate need for some Wilson time.

House banged his cane loudly on the door that read " James Wilson, head of oncology," and waited, well, _almost_ patiently for his friend to answer the door. Wilson ushered him in and sat down before asking, "What's up?" House took a deep breath.

"Look, Wilson I just needed to inform you that if I'm extra mean or more of a jerk this week, there's a good reason."

Wilson raised his eyebrows, "House you don't _need_ a reason to be more of a jerk." Seeing House's expression he gave in, "Okay I see you need to talk and you don't want to admit it, so I'll humor you. Why are you going to be more mean and Jerk-ish than usual?" House wasn't sure where to begin, so he just started at the most logical point. " I have a new patient... Kayla , and her case...her case really hits way to close to home." he could tell Wilson was confused so he clarified, " She was brought to me after spending two days in orthopedics, because she complained of a fever, headaches and leg pain, and none of the doctors knew where the leg pain could be coming from. They checked everything except that because of her age, 15, they decided against doing an angio." Wilson had an idea where this was going, and he didn't like it. " So I did one, I just had this weird feeling...turns out those idiots let a clot slide by for almost two and a half days unnoticed! And now because of them her muscles in her left thigh are dying. And it's too late to do anything! And now I have to go in there and tell her the options she has, because I feel _obligated._ I'm actually on pretty much the same page as a patient for once, Wilson. Heck I-I CARE! And it scares the crap out of me." House finally finishes his heated rant. Wilson, in shock, and not really knowing what to say for once, gives him a look that says " I totally understand your point" and tells him gently, " Do what you think is right." House nods and leaves Wilson's office abruptly. Now it's of to Kayla's room. What _fun_.


	3. Chapter 3

1Mistakes Shouldn't Be Made Twice - Chapter 3

House walked into his patients room. " Here we go." He thought, as he walked towards the young girl, who was currently sleeping. At least he _thought _she was, because he was about to slam his cane down on the lunch tray obnoxiously when she popped open one eye. Realizing his cane hovering over her, she opened the other one. " You know," She said with a raised eyebrow, "Hitting someone while they're sleeping wouldn't exactly be fair play." She then narrowed her eyes. "Who are you anyway? A patient? I'd ask if you were from the mental ward if it wasn't for the cane. There goes that theory."

" My aren't we cheery! I wasn't going to _hit_ you I was going to _wake_ you. I'm not _that_ much of a jerk." Was House's comeback. "And I'm NOT a patient by the way," He continued. " I'm doctor House. We figured out what's wrong with you. Are your parents here yet? There are some decisions need to be made regarding your leg. And since you're a minor..."

"Did you even READ my chart!" Asked Kayla angrily. Seeing House's confused and shocked expression at this outburst she sighed. " My parents are dead," She clarified. " And I don't even live in New Jersey. I'm spending the rest of the summer here at camp."

"Oh," said House. "Any living relatives?" He asked.

" Yeah, I live with my aunt. But she only thinks of me as an inconvenience and a pain. Why do you think I go to camp for four weeks of the summer?" Responded Kayla with a hint of anger and annoyance.

" Well, we still need to call her- House began but Kayla interrupted. " I wouldn't trust her with my life. Is there any way you could tell me without her being here?"

" I could get Dr. Cuddy to call her and get permission to operate on your wishes..." Said House slowly.

" Okay, do that. But could you at least tell me what's wrong with my leg?"

House sighed, " You have a blot clot in your thigh. Now normally this would be a simple problem to fix, but since your first doctor, being the total idiot that he is, didn't think of a clot a s a possibility, he sent you to me." He paused here for a moment, " Because of the length of time the clot was left untreated..." He sighed, this was the hard part, "the muscles in your thigh have started to die. We'll remove the clot immediately, but the chemicals released from the dead muscle would still be sending poison up to the rest of your body."

"So what do we do?" Asked Kayla, frightened.

"Well, you have two options, we could either amputate the leg," She stiffened, and House quickly moved on. " Or have the dead muscle removed from it."

" I LIKE my leg! No one is cutting it off." She snapped. House remembered himself saying almost exactly the same thing, and had to try and ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. " Professional. I have to stay professional." He reminded himself silently. I have to warn you though...the second option could leave you with constant pain and limited mobility. So are you sure-

" ANYTHING'S BETTER THAN A METAL LEG!" She screamed, and then took a deep calming breath, " I don't want to be a cyborg." She whispered. House felt bad for her. " Great," He said to himself, " I think I'm going soft." He decided to drop the Uncaring Jerk ack long enough to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. " Then if your sure, I'll send someone from my team in here with a consent form for you to sign and I'll get Dr. Cuddy, she runs the hospital, to get permission from your aunt." Realizing his hand was still on her shoulder, he cleared his throat awkwardly and began to walk away, but he was stopped by the sound of Kayla's voice. " Dr. House!" She called, and he turned. "Yeah, " He said gruffly, his soft side now completely hidden .

" What happened to _your_ leg?" His expression softened yet again, this time with sadness and anger mixed in. " Blood Clot." He said finally. " My doctors were idiots too." He limped out of the room after one last glance at his "Mini-me" and headed towards Cuddy's office.


	4. Chapter 4

1Mistakes Shouldn't be made twice- Chapter 4

"I need a favor." Said House, barging into Cuddy's office. At Cuddy's look he rolled his eyes and clarified, " not an I-need-a-shot-of-morphine favor, an actual patient-related favor." Cuddy looked up at House and asked " What do you need?"

" My patient is 15 years old, she has no living relatives besides her aunt, who she claims hates her. She wants to make the decisions necessary to curing her illness on her own, because she doesn't trust her aunt with her life." Explained House.

"So what do you want me to do? And what does your patient have?" Asked Cuddy, puzzled.

House ignored the second part of her question. He then said in a demanding tone, " I want you to call her aunt, and make sure this girl can make decisions about her own le-life!" House quickly corrected himself. He almost said "leg", and he didn't want Cuddy knowing why he was taking this case so seriously. She would feel bad. Which wouldn't be a bad thing , really. She _should _feel bad for letting the same ignorant mistake be made twice in her hospital. House wanted her to feel bad, but what he didn't want was her feeling bad for_ him_. He didn't need her pity.

Cuddy was shocked by the seriousness in House's tone and asked, slowly, deliberately, " House. What does your patient have?"

" It's nothing," House began, but Cuddy interrupted, " HOUSE! Tell me what she HAS! Because if it was nothing, you wouldn't care so much. You would let someone else come to me and handle it."She sighed, " if you don't tell me, I'll just look it up in the file..."

"FINE!" Exclaimed House, " You want to know what she has! She has a blood clot in her leg , and your idiot doctors in orthopedics let it go unnoticed! So now a fifteen year old girl is suffering from muscle death, and she wants to be able to make her own decisions because she's afraid her aunt will let them cut her leg off!" House took a semi-calming breath. His voice shook as he said, " Sound familiar?"

Cuddy was shocked by House's outburst, but she knew where he was coming from. He sympathized with this girl because she was going through the exact same thing he had gone through. After a moment, she finally found her voice, and stopped House just before he went out the door. " House!" She called, and he turned around. " I-I'll make the call. Just do what the girl-

"Kayla" stated House.

" Okay," Continued Cuddy in a sympathetic tone, "Just do what Kayla wants done." He nodded and limped out of her office, the door slamming shut behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

1By the next day, Cuddy had talked to Kayla's aunt, who was shockingly uncaring, over the phone, and had gotten permission to do anything Kayla wanted. Upon receiving this news, House thanked Cuddy, to her surprise, and then headed towards his office to tell his team. Walking into the differential room he announced with absolutely no preamble, " Get a surgeon."

" So I'm assuming Kayla agreed to treatment." Said Cameron slowly.

" Yeah, but which one?" Inquired Chase.

House took a deep breath, "Okay, let me clarify. Get a surgeon who won't screw up a muscle removal, and then meet me back here."

"Wouldn't an amputation be safer..." Started Foreman, but House interrupted.

" Yeah, it would, but this girl wants to keep her leg! Or do you want to put her in a coma and then go against her wishes!" 'Like they did to me,' he added to himself.

Not one of his ducklings had a response to that.

"What are you waiting for? GO!" Snapped House. Jumping slightly, all three of them scampered out, ignoring the fact that only one of them would be needed to acquire a surgeon.

" How soon do you need the surgery done?" Asked Dr. Jenkins, rubbing a hand over his forehead.

Chase, Foreman, and Cameron glanced at each other quickly.

" As soon as possible," Responded Cameron.

" Okay," agreed the surgeon, "but if House is going to be there, he better not criticize my every move." Jenkins new how personal this was to House, but he didn't need it affecting the poor girls surgery. "Have her prepped in a half hour."

They smiled their thanks and left to go back to House.

"Well?" asked House, watching his team walk into his office, he put down his Nintendo DS and turned to face them fully.

" Go tell Kayla she has surgery in a half hour." Said Chase. House allowed a brief smile to creep up onto his face, but before they had a chance to notice it, it was gone. He nodded to Chase and left the office without a word, heading in the direction of Kayla's room.

A/N : Sorry this chapter's so short, but it seemed like a good place to leave it for now. Also, sorry about the delay, but I've been busy. Plus, school just started.


	6. Chapter 6

1House walked into Kayla's room and slid the door shut.

"You have surgery in an hour," He informed her. She sat up straighter in her bed.

"I- uh, what? You got permission from my Aunt?" She asked, surprised. She didn't think her Aunt would give in that easily, she thought she would have delayed, just to cause her niece misery.

"Yeah. You seem surprised." Stated House.

"No, no! It's just, I know nothing about this surgery and-" House cut her off.

"That's what I'm here for,' Said House, "So, here's the basics, with this surgery you have an excellent chance of surviving, don't worry, about 99. The surgeon will go in and take out the dead muscle, depending on how much the surgery could take from two to four hours. The recovery, however, is a bit difficult. You will need to stay in the hospital for about a month for in- patient physical therapy, and then will spend another month as an out-patient, getting regular checkups on how well your leg is healing and also to see how well you are doing with your, uh...cane use." House completed his description hesitantly.

"So, I'll need a cane?" House nodded.

"Okay...I'm ready." Said Kayla mustering up a confident look.

" Good, because here come the nurses to wheel you in." House informed her. With one last fearful look to House, Kayla's bed was wheeled out of her room, and down to the OR. House sighed, and said to the now empty room, "good luck, kid."

A/N : I know, a very short chapter, but it's leading up to the one that might be the last! Remember to review!


	7. Chapter 7

Mistakes Shouldn't Be Made Twice - Chapter seven

House watched from the observatory as the surgeons carefully closed up Kayla's thigh. Once he was sure they weren't about to screw up any time soon, he headed back to his office to wait for her to come out of surgery. He played his DS for about a half hour until Cameron came in.

" Kayla's out of surgery. They had to remove less muscle then they originally thought, so she will probably only need a cane for balance, not so much for the pain. She should be able to get along ok with just some ibuprofen." Cameron relayed the information in a soft caring voice that House always felt comforted with. Though he'd definitely never tell that to her. He simply nodded and got up to go visit her. House chuckled at the fact that for once he actually wanted to go see a patient. Walking, er, limping down the halls, he finally reached Kayla's room. He opened the door and entered without permission as usual, though Kayla didn't seem to mind. She was to bust staring solemnly at the uneven slope her thigh made underneath the covers. House's normally untouchable heart clenched for the poor girl. He was pretty sure he knew the feelings currently running through her head. He walked a little closer to the side of the bed. She didn't even look up. House tried in his own way to comfort her

. " You'll never like it you know," He said, referring to her leg, "but you'll get used to it. Eventually it'll just become a part of you. I remember my first few months with the cane, I was devastated, I was embarrassed, and worst of all, I was in pain. Lots of it. You won't have to deal with that pain, yours will only be minor. And if you ever feel embarrassed by someone staring at you, or frustrated when someone pities you. Make it very clear that you don't need pity, whack him in the shins with your cane, that's what I do all the time, just ask doctor Wilson," She smiled at this, she had met Dr. Wilson a few moments after her surgery, and he had mentioned being friends with House. House continued his little mini-speech, "Just whatever you do, don't become a misanthropic jerk like me." He nodded, as if satisfied with what he had just said.

Kayla finally looked up, and gave a teary eyed laugh, "What, did you rehearse that?"

House pretended to be offended, "Of course not!" He pulled something out of the closet next to her bed, it was a long, thin box. He handed it to her awkwardly. "Here, it's um, a present form me and my team, we figured that if you had to walk with a cane, you'd at least want a good one."

Kayla opened the box, and found a light cherry wood cane, it's handle perfectly curved to fit a small teenage girl's hand. Underneath the handle was an intricate carving of a butterfly.

" Thanks," Said Kayla, finally smiling, she looked up at him, "was this your idea?"

"No, I'm not that thoughtful, trust me." House responded instantly.

The phrase, "Everybody lies," did in fact, include him too.

THE END

A/N: Well, that's all folks! Thanks to those of you who reviewed and stuck around dispite long waits in between chapters. You all rock!


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